Are strikeouts a conduit to winning?

In fantasy baseball, pitchers who ring up large numbers of strikeouts are a prized possession.

In the real world, however, that’s not always true.

The Mariners staff leads the American League in strikeouts, but Seattle came into Friday’s game five games under .500 at 22-27.

Seattle pitchers simply haven’t been as efficient with the rest of their pitches. And, of course, the offense has been shut out six times, which negates all the good things your own pitching staff does.

In the bigger picture, the Mariners, the Twins and the Angels are 1-2-3 in the AL in strikeouts, and yet they came into Friday night’s play a combined 20 games under .500 at 61-81.